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First Active plans for online voting

FIRST ACTIVE, the mortgage provider, has become the first publicly quoted company in Ireland to allow shareholders to register their proxy votes electronically ahead of its annual general meeting on May 27, writes Ciaran Hancock.

The bank’s 145,000 shareholders will be able to vote online on the bank’s bonus share scheme, which is offering investors a once-off tax efficient windfall of €1.12 per share. Up to 20m proxy votes have been cast in advance of First Active AGMs in recent years, the company said.

AIB, meanwhile, confirmed that it is also considering offering internet proxy voting to its 100,000 shareholders.

First Active shareholders have been able to log their proxy votes since early last week by accessing a website hosted by Computershare, the bank’s registrar. Each shareholder has been assigned a personal identification number which, when activated with their shareholder reference number, allows them to vote on the various resolutions